The potato stock in Belgium is larger than the average in the past 5 years. There is also a record amount of contracted potatoes. This is evident from a PCA survey among growers in Flanders and Wallonia.
The total Belgian potato stock was estimated at 1,71 million tons of potatoes at the beginning of April. That is considerably more than the stock at this time in the past 5 seasons, namely a plus of 320.000 tons. The stock is a lot lower than in April 2018, when the stock was extremely large due to the record harvest of 2017.
Just over half of the stock (52%) can be found in Flanders, mainly of the Fontane variety. In Wallonia, relatively larger quantities of Bintje, Challenger and Innovator are in stock.
More contracted potatoes
About 32% of the current stock in Belgium concerns free potatoes, which is equivalent to approximately 540.000 tons. That is 'only' 8% more than the 5-year average of 500.000 tons. However, in a market that has been completely disrupted by the corona crisis, that is a lot.
The amount of free potatoes fluctuates annually, depending on the harvest yield. The quantity of contracted potatoes, on the other hand, moves with the area. Since 2015, the stock of contracted potatoes has increased from 0,94 to 1,17 million tons at the beginning of April. The area of potatoes under contract has grown from 81.000 to 89.000 hectares in the same period.
Challenge for industry
This is in line with the growing capacity of the processing industry. The challenge is to process the current record stock of contracted potatoes, as sales are at a standstill due to the corona crisis. Trade organization Belpotato has announced that Belgian potato processors want to fulfill their contracts with growers as much as possible. The stocks of frozen finished products therefore accumulate.